Sunsets and Skylines
by ah-dorably key-ute
Summary: James Sirius Potter is Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, and now the Oldest Weasley Cousin at Hogwarts. Throw in some crazy friends and the new realization that he's in love with his best friend. James Potter is in for one unforgettable year. JSP/OC


**A/N: Ok, so here's my new story. You guys have been so supportive about my other ones that I decided to post this one too. So just tell me what you think about it.**

**Summary: James Sirius Potter is Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, and now the Oldest Weasley Cousin at Hogwarts. Throw in some crazy friends and the new realization that he's in love with his best friend. James Potter is in for one unforgettable year.**

**Disclaimer: I only own the OCs. The other characters and everything else belong to JK Rowling.

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_"How ya doing? How am I doing? Well, I guess I'm doing fine. But it's been so long, but it seems like it was only yesterday. Ain't it funny how time slips away?"  
Dave Matthews Band "Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away"_

James Potter (the second) loved his family. Really, he did. They were all great, all twenty to thirty something of them. They always had a good time and there was always something going on.

But right now, all he really wanted to do was go and find his best friends. It was his last and final year of Hogwarts and he was determined to have a good time.

He was Head Boy and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Of course, no one believed that he was actually Head Boy (he lived up to his namesakes far too much). His father told him that McGonagall was apparently as crazy as Dumbledore had been for doing this.

But he wasn't going to let being Head Boy bring him down. He wasn't sure who the Head Girl was, but he was hoping she was cute.

Yeah, that was another thing about him. He was _kind _of, _sort _of, ok totally a player and everyone knew it. He'd had maybe three total 'girlfriends' in his life but a whole lot more girls.

He grinned as he saw the first of his two best friends over on the opposite side of the station.

Aidan Conner was standing with his father, step-mother, and his step-sister. He was an average heighted 18 year old, good looking with short dark hair and purple-ish blue eyes (yeah, they were really that color. No one ever believed him when he told them that but everyone loved the color). He and his father looked very similar (except for the eyes) and standing next to each other made the similarities even more noticeable.

Aidan's step-sister, Aubree Van Houten, was the spitting image of her mother, shortened a few inches. At fourteen, she was already one of the most sought after girls at Hogwarts, along with her best friend Lily Potter (something that greatly displeased both James and Aidan). She had shoulder-length blonde hair that she usually left down and straight with bang flowing over her forehead and gray-ish blue eyes.

Lily Potter was also the spitting image of her mother. However, in contrast to her best friend, she had long straight red hair, brown eyes, and a bit of freckles splashed across her face. She was only an inch taller than her best friend, something both of them loved, for they could share clothing. And also like her best friend, she was extremely close with her family, particularly her brothers, and especially James.

Albus Potter was the spitting image of his father. Now that's got to be a lot of pressure. To look exactly like 'The Chosen One'. So, anyway, as you know, Albus, like Harry, had bright green eyes and messy dark hair. In fact, the only difference between Albus and Harry was that Albus' hair would occasionally lie flat (after all, Ginny must have provided some genes to the kid).

James, however, had inherited the famous Potter ever-messy dark hair. He was tall (really tall, having inherited the tall Weasley gene) and muscular, not the usual build for a Seeker, but he was the absolute best Hogwarts had seen in a while. He inherited eyes from both his parents, evidently, for they were a unique shade of hazel, but without the glasses that his father and brother wore.

Teddy Lupin, his wife Victoire (a.k.a. James' cousin), and their children, a five year old son named Will (a metamorphmagus like his father) and James' godchild, a two year old daughter named Claire (blonde haired and blue eyed like her mother) arrived at the platform to see the Weasley clan off to school.

James bent down to pick up his godchild, who had attached herself to his leg. As he stood back up, he caught sight of his other best friend.

Bryan Howley was standing with his mother, father, and twin sister Kristina. He was the shortest of the three friends, standing only at 5'10. He had brown-ish blonde hair with sweet brown eyes. Like James, Bryan Howley was a player and his sister hated him for it (she lost most of her friends because of him).

His twin sister, Kristina, like her brother, also had brown hair (hers was much longer and had a nice curl to it) with the same sweet brown eyes that Bryan had. She was in Ravenclaw, and rightly so, for she was incredibly and utterly smart. She and her brother were pretty close and for some reason (she really wasn't sure why) but she enjoyed hanging out with Bryan, James, and Aidan.

She didn't have many girl friends. Her brother was a player, and so were his best friends. And they were all her best friends. So, when the girls she had been friends with told her that they would only stay friends with her if she stopped hanging out with her brother, well she ditched them. Bryan had been her best friend since birth and she wasn't going to give that up for anything.

She looked over and smiled at James. He grinned back at her as he listened to Claire count to ten.

And soon it was time to get on the train. Head Boy met up with his friends. The three guys exchanged 'man hugs' and James and Aidan hugged Kristina. Aidan, Kristina, and Bryan went off to find a compartment while James went off to the Prefect/ Head's compartment. Kristina told him that she would be down in time for the meeting and they would walk back to the compartment together.

He still wasn't sure who the Head Girl was, until he opened the door. And when he did, he gently slid the door shut and walked over. She noticed nothing, having been looking in her bag, until he pulled her up and enveloped her in a big bear hug. She smiled, laughed, and wrapped her arms around him in return.

Skylar Northcutt and James Potter had met in their first year of Hogwarts. It was a common practice of teachers to sit their first years by house, alphabetically. Making friends with those in your house was a large focus of first year and once second year began, they started pairing people in different houses off.

But Northcutt and Potter had been placed next to each other in almost every class, as there were no Gryffindors with a last name beginning with O in their year. The two had become fast friends and they were still extremely close.

Like Kristina, she didn't have many girl friends, due to the guys she was friends with. She and Kristina were very close and often hung out together. She was ok with the fact that she didn't have many girl friends; in fact, she liked her guy friends.

Skylar was short, the shortest of all five of them, standing only at 5'3, with light dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. She tanned easily and stayed tan for a while. She was much different that the other five of them, however. Bryan and Kristina were both half-bloods, James and Aidan were both pure-bloods, but Skylar was a muggleborn and her parents couldn't stand magic of any sort. In fact, James had often said that they reminded her of his father's Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.

Because her parents were against magic, there were often summers that the group didn't see or even talk to Skylar, which is why James was sure that he didn't know that she was Head Girl. Under normal circumstances, she would have rushed to tell him something like that.

Actually, she would have rushed to tell him anything. She had a rather funny habit of telling him random things that he really didn't care about. She would often come into the Boys' Dormitory in the middle of the night, climb into bed with James, and then start chatting about something that happened in a Prefect meeting that night. He would nod or laugh a bit, then pull her down in a horizontal position so he could go back to sleep.

It didn't surprise him that she was Head Girl. She had been a Prefect (he thanked God for that because if she hadn't, then neither of them would have known what to do) and she was an excellent student, like James himself. She studied often (opposed to James, who had a natural ability to remember stuff but did, on occasion, actually study) and she balanced all her work neatly and evenly.

Skylar Northcutt (aside from his sister and cousins because they were related to him and he had to do that anyway) also happened to be the one girl in the world that James Potter would do anything for.

It had been a scary day for him in June of last year that he realized the he loved Skylar, that he was in love with the girl who had been his best friend for years.

They had been lying by the lake, on the last night before summer ended. It had been one of those rare moments that it had just been them. Kristina and Bryan had decided to have a brother-sister evening and were off hanging out together somewhere. Aidan had winked at them before leaving around 6:30 to meet up with a Seventh Year Hufflepuff one last time.

So, Skylar and James had gone for a walk, around the grounds. It was very warm for an early summer night, but there was a cool breeze flying over the grounds. James had sat on the shore of the lake in tan cargo shorts and a navy blue t-shirt, half watching half laughing at Skylar, in her short jean shorts and a plain yellow tank top, twirling around in the shallow water near the lake shore.

When the sun had begun to set, she pulled herself out of the water and sat down next to him. Eventually they had both lain down, Skylar's head resting on James' chest, as they watched the sun completely set. Or James watched the sun completely set. Skylar had fallen asleep, the left side of her face pressed against James' shirt and her right hand resting somewhere near his belly-button.

And James had smiled, perfectly content to stay where he was for the rest of his life. He had frozen, terrified, that he had actually used a commitment term. But he realized just seconds later that he was ok with it, as long as Skylar was by his side.

"I can't believe that you're Head Boy!" Skylar exclaimed when she pulled away from him. "McGonagall is absolutely crazy for this." Her eyes were sparkling and she was smiling, letting him know that she was completely joking.

"That seems to be the consensus." James grinned down at her. He sat down in the chair next to hers and she sat down next to him, as she continued to look in her bag for whatever it was that she had been looking for previously.

Skylar frowned as she looked in the bag for her badge. Wow, she was going to be a great Head Girl. She sighed in relief as her fingers hit it on the bottom and she pulled it out. She turned to James. "I'm really glad it's you though. I don't think I could have handled it if Warrington turned out to be Head Boy." Kyle Warrington was a Slytherin in their year. He and James had never gotten along and James knew that Skylar felt Warrington had a sleazy aura about him.

"Don't worry. I would have taken care of him if he became Head Boy." James teased.

"My hero." Skylar rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but in came the first Prefects.

James' brother, Albus, and his cousin, Rose Weasley, came in the door. Rose let out a small squeal as she saw Skylar and rushed over to hug her. The two girls were pretty good friends in school, seeing that they were the two best friends of the Potter boys (they sat huddled together during Quidditch games, worrying about the Bludgers that were being smacked toward Chaser Albus and Seeker James). Albus journeyed over too and said hi, before Albus and Rose sat down next to their Slytherin friend Scorpius Malfoy and his fellow sixth year counterpart, Ruthie Anderson.

Coming in next were fifth year Gryffindors Lucy Weasley (James' cousin) and Harris Bowman. They were followed by Hufflepuff seventh year Dylan Marshall and Ravenclaw fifth years Jason Davies and Lena Kandier. Soon after them were the Slytherin fifth years Blaise Zabini Jr. and Catherine Dean and the Gryffindor seventh year Prefects Justin Mellon and Skylar's replacement Lyndsey Gentile. Justin smiled at the girl who had been his counterpart for the past two years and his dorm mate for the past six years, expressing his congratulations. Fifth year Hufflepuffs Sean Dougherty and Cait Cohen walked in with the sixth year Hufflepuffs Jackie Nelms and Doug Schmidt. Kristina's counterpart, Nick Malone, walked in with seventh year Hufflepuff Tayler Michener (one of the few girls at school that Skylar and Kristina were friends with). The seventh year Slytherins, Kyle Warrington and Lacey Greengrass, entered with matching scowls on their faces. Finally, the Ravenclaw sixth years, Zack Tyler and Casey McGowan, wandered in, with Kristina close behind them.

Kristina shrieked when she saw Skylar sitting at the Head's spot. She ran forward and hugged her best friend, sending both of them to the ground.

"If you're done, Kristina, we can start this meeting." James teased.

Kristina stuck her tongue out at him, but she gracefully took her seat next to Nick.

"Ok, so meeting has begun." James said. "I'm James Potter, this is Skylar Northcutt, for those of you who don't know, and we're the Heads this year."

"We're going to try and keep this meeting short and just save most of it for the weekly meeting, which will be held on Thursday. Today, we're just going to go over the basic rules and then sign up for a night of rounds this week. Then we'll let you go back to your friends." Skylar said.

"Ok, so some basic rules." James said. "Can't take points off. Can give punishments. Can't abuse your privileges. Will hand in the necessary paperwork on time. Remember, if you guys don't hand in your paperwork, then we can't hand in ours, so try and keep up with that. If you're really having problems with it, then tell Sky or I and we'll figure something out."

"The Prefect bathroom is on the fifth floor behind the portrait of the Mermaid. The password is Bowtruckle. The password for that will be changed every so often and you will be notified about these changes at the weekly meetings, which as I said before, will be held on Thursday evenings at 7." Skylar continued.

"Passwords for Gryffindors, Slytherins, and Hufflepuffs can be found on these slips of paper." James held up three slips of paper. One of the Prefects should come up her at the end of the meeting and grab this. Ravenclaws, you still have to answer your riddles and good luck with that." There was a bit of laughter and the Ravenclaws smiled good-naturedly.

"Fifth years, don't forget, it's your job to take the new first years to the Common Room. " Skylar said. "As far as rounds go, it'll be done in two week shifts. You patrol with your partner. If you need to switch shifts with someone, that's fine. Just make sure you let James or I know. Each partner patrols one night every two weeks. James and I will do two." She looked over at James, silently wondering if there was anything else they had to cover. He shrugged, letting her know that he was finished. "And I guess that's it for now. Grab the passwords from up here, sign up for a rounds shift and then you guys can head out."

James and Skylar watched as the Prefects all rushed to sign up for their rounds. Kristina and her partner Nick were one of the first to do so. Nick left shortly after to go join his friends and Kristina joined James and Skylar at the front of the compartment.

Finally, the compartment emptied and the three friends left. James stood in the middle of the two girls as they walked to the complete opposite end of the train.

James threw open the compartment door, when they finally arrived. He fell back into a seat next to Bryan, who was sitting across from Aidan, and playing Exploding Snap.

"Never again." James said.

"Never again, what?" Bryan asked, not taking his eyes off the game.

"Never again am I walking between those two." James said. "God, it was just incessant talking in both ears. At the same time. I mean, really. How on Earth do you understand what each other are saying when you talk over top of each other?" He shook his head, expressing his feeling that women were ridiculous.

Kristina settled herself next to Aidan and rolled her eyes. "Oh James." She said.

Skylar laughed and she sat down on the left of James. "Get used to it honey. It's just a girl thing." She yawned and laid her head on James' lap. "I'm going to sleep now. G'night."

"Night." James laughed as she yawned again. Soon, Kristina had leaned her head onto Aidan's shoulder and fallen asleep. Aidan rested his head on hers and fell asleep. James leaned back and fell asleep and Bryan used the window as a pillow.

It was the quietest train ride the five had ever taken together. Each of them was lost in their dreams of the future and Seventh Year.

When they awoke, the sun was setting. No one spoke; they all watched as the sunset met the skyline before pulling on their robes and getting ready for their last year in school.

It was their last year and they were going to make it a good one.

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**A/N: So, what do we think about it so far?**


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